Finishing Strong

Leadership Value of the Day : Running through the finish

Sometimes we have a tendency to see that we have a slight advantage or a lead, and instead of finishing the race strong, we get caught up in running the race that someone else is running. We see someone's struggle and we say we can relax a little because they aren't as close as we think they are. In that moment we have already lost our race. We have betrayed our practice, and preparation for the race. We have decided to phone in our performance and let up instead of pushing ourselves to do our best. This is a problem if you ever want to become a great leader, and reach the peak of your own performance in the craft that you choose. We must discipline ourselves to work as hard as we can though the completion of the job or task. As we approach the final weeks of this year please don't give up, run through the finish so that you become familiar with the practice of finishing strong.

Leadership Value of theDay

Leadership Value of the Day: Being Grateful

I will keep this one short, because I know many of you have pies in the oven, and family to great. This time of year many people are sharing how thankful they are for the many blessings in their lives. I in no way want people to stop this. However to be a great leader you must be thankful everyday, not just on a holiday. We so often take for granted the many blessings we have that are abundant in our lives, and we get so caught up trying to achieve our goals that we forget to celebrate the small victories. To reach a level of greatness you not only have to practice principals that enhance your knowledge and understanding, you have to exercise the spirit. Being humble and grateful for all your blessings help to align you with the path to greatness.

Leadership Value of the Day

Leadership Value Of the Day: Patience, Perseverance, and Attitude

Many people like to believe that they possess these attributes. However once you learn what they really are you will realize we all need some work from time to time in these areas. Let's start with Patience. Many people believe that just because they are waiting and complaining about not being where they want to be or where they are striving to be they have patience. However patience is working towards your goals, even though you are denied with a positive attitude; I bet you are starting to see how this post will go. It is embracing the trials and tribulations as learning experiences, and not curses. It is something so simple to print but harder for us to practice, because we all want our success now. We all feel we deserve it now. However we don't know what the future holds for us, and that is why we are made to wait. The things we want for ourselves maybe actually selling ourselves short of what we will accomplish, so patience is needed to learn through and from each trial. Perseverance is simply application of what one has learned and the refusal to quit. Many times we think that we are not making any adjustments to our approach, but we are we are learning with each failed attempt. We learn to get up and try again. We learn how to keep going in the face of adversity. This is a skill that can not be learned from watching others. It is a skill that has to be learned through hands on methods, to truly be effective. Perseverance is a muscle that has to be exercised with every new task and even some old ones. Finally Attitude. A positive attitude is what makes the other values of the day easy. Without a positive attitude the other values become daunting tasks. I am not suggesting that everyday is or will be rainbows and sunshine. However I am saying that even at our lowest points we should maintain the ability to smile to laugh and to understand that we generate our own air. If you are positive you will attract positive people, if you dwell on the negative you will invite more negativity into your space. Then you will have to exercise the other values of the day in a negative cloud generating even more trials for yourself on the road to greatness.

Leadership Value of the Day

Leadership Value of the Day: Time and Understanding

There is an old saying that says there is no fool like an old fool, or maybe that was a lyric some where. Either way the saying holds true. Time alone does not make one wise. It is only through practice of principals and an understanding of people, relationships, and the symbiotic nature of all things that we are ever even capable of getting close to greatness. Notice I did not say achieving it. It takes time to develop in to greatness, however time alone will not bring you any closer to that goal. Wisdom is not the attainment of a certain age, it is the culmination of practicing and understanding why we do so. It is the application of that knowledge that makes one wise, and therefore brings you closer to greatness. You need time to develop the proper prospective, and to see the many different facets that bring a leader closer to his or her ultimate goal. Understanding means that you have grasped the information, or the situation, by truly accepting and learning from it, and planning for any similar situation. These plans are not always going to work, but with each one you will refine your approach. With each successful execution you will draw closer to your goals.

Leadership Value of the Day

So I want to start something new that I am already doing on my social media sites. It is a leadership value of the day. Just my take on the things you have to go through to be great, as a leader. So here is the first post on this blog, with many more to come, I hope you guys enjoy.

Leadership value of the day: Prepared through Adversity No one just wakes up great. Endowed with skills they did not have the night before. Greatness is achieved through diligent preparation and struggle. It is only with practice that we are prepared to seize and opportunity once it has presented itself. If we don't practice then we will never be prepared to act on any given situation. This is a fundamental block of building to greatness. This is not just practice when you feel like it or when you want to it is going hard at your craft everyday, making a way to push forward when you think you have nothing left and the tank is empty. That leads us to the second part of the value for the day. ADVERSITY. Most people when they meet adversity they run. It gets too hard and they quite, they feel the resistance pushing back and they give in. That is why most people never become great. They settle, they give up, the are happy with just good enough. I can only tell you from my own experiences that once you give up it takes 10 times the energy to get back in the game. It takes 20 time the dedication, and it takes something that you can't measure. FAITH. Adversity forges you like steal. Purifies you like fire to gold, and solidifies you like pressure for Coal that is meant to be a diamond. However it only works if you push through it. You can be a great leader but first you must conquer your own trials, face them and move through them, and you can only be truly prepared through adversity.